e  r •  i' 


W$t  Hibrarp 

of  the 

Untoersiitp  of  JSortf)  Carolina 


tEJje  Cameron  Collection 

3fn  jiflemorp  of 

pennefjan  Cameron 

September  9,  l854  =  3Tune  1, 1925 

trustee  of  tf)e  ©nibersttp  of  J^ortft  Carolina 
1891=1925 


SPEECH 


OF 


R,  R.  BRIDGERS,  ESQ., 

OF  EDGECOMBE, 

ON    THE 

CONVENTION  QUESTION, 
Delivered  in  Committee  of  the   Whole  in  tJie  House  of   Com- 
mons of  North-Carolina,  January  14fA,  1861.     •*' 


Mr.  Chairman: — The  measure  under  consideration  is  the  most 
Important  that  has  occupied  the  attention  of  any  legislature  since  the 
formation  of  the  Federal  Union  Questions  of  policy  have  arisea  from 
time  to  time  which  have  involved  matters  of  great  interest ;  proposi- 
tions for  Constitutional  reform  have  excited  deep  feelings  and  have 
aroused  sectional  jealousy ;  but  these  questions  of  great  importance 
sink  into  insignificance  compared  with  a  call  of  a  convention  to  deter- 
mine our  future  relations  with  our  confederated  republic.  To  remain/ 
in  or  go  out  of  the  Union  addresses  the  interest  and  patriotism  of  all. 
The  severance  of  the  Union  that  has  given  us  prosperity  and  protec- 
tion should  not  be  dealt  with  as  matters  of  ordinary  policy.  It  should 
be  considered  well  in  all  its  bearings.  With  the  patriotism  of  freemen 
let  us  rise  above  all  party  strife  and  dissensions,  and  unite  in  the  pro- 
tection of  our  common  rights. 

Nature  has  been  lavish  of  her  gifts  to  us.  She  has  given  the  ele- 
ments of  a  great  State.  No  like  space  of  territory  on  the  Americao. 
continent  has  a  greater  variety  of  soil  and  elimate,  yielding  a  greater 
abundance  of  productions  for  the  wants  of  man,  and  at  the  same  time 
affording  a  higher  degree  of  health  to  its  inhabitants.  As  abundant  as 
these  resources  are,  their  development  for  a  long  time  to  come  will  de- 
pend on  the  supply  of  African  slave  laoor,  the  continuance  of  which 
may  depend  on  our  action  on  the  bill  under  consideration. 

The  question  involved  is,  shall  we  submit  to  the  oppression  of  higher 
law  dogmas,  and  infidel  vagaries  of  fanaticism,  or  shall  we,  as  our  an- 
cestors did,  seek  protection  in  a  new  government  ?  There  is  but  one- 
proper  way  of  deciding  this  question  ;  that  is  to  call  a  convention,  and 
let  the  people,  from  whom  all  political  power  is  derived,  speak  and  de- 
clare their  will 

The  legislature  has  no  power  to  decide  these  questions ;  all  power 
-not  vested  in  the  legislature,  and  not  delegated  to  the  Federal  Govern- 


merit,  is  reserved  to  the  people,  who  have  vested  in  us  the  authority  to 
call  a  convention.  Article  4ih  and  section  1st  of  the  Amended  Consti- 
tution reads,  "  no  convention  of  the  people  shall  be  called  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  unless  by  the  concurrence  of  iwo-thirds  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  each  House  of  the  General  Assembly. 

The  people's  constitution  has  delegated  to  the  legislature  the  power 
to  say  that  there  shall  be  a  convention,  or  that  there  shall  be  no  con- 
vention ;  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly  who  are  supposed  to 
reflect  the  will  of  their  constituents  are  vested  with  the  power  of  put- 
tiug  into  motion  the  main  spring  of  sovereign  popular  action.  They 
have  only  such  authority  as  is  delegated  to  them  by  the  constitution, 
and  n  >  where  does  that  instrument  empower  them  to  limit  the  popu 
lar  will  represented  in  sovereign  convontion.  A  convention  of  the 
people  have  a  right  to  abrogate  all  constitutions  and  laws  heretofore 
made  ;  if,  then,  this  legislature  should  pass  an  act  of  limitation,  the 
convention  would,  at  its  pleasure,  repeal  it.  The  servant  may  request 
'  but  never  command  his  master. 

When  the  call  is  made  and  the  convention  duly  organized,  it  is  the 
supreme  legislature  of  the  people;  it  is  their  representative  voice,  know- 
ing no  limit,  save  what  is  imposed  by  the  people  themselves  according 
to  the  forms  of  the  constitution;  any  action  otherwise  is  revolution. 

If  we  had  the  power  T  I  would  propose  several  restrictions  and  limi- 
tations; among  them  I  would  require  the  action  of  the  convention  to 
be  submitted  to  the  people  for  ratification.  The  people,  however,  have 
this  matter  in  their  own  hands,  and  no  doubt  will  exercise  it.  They 
will  elect  delegates  to  carry  out  their  will ;  they  will  have  these  matters 
discussed,  and  their  representatives  will  fully  understand  them  and  fully 
represent  them.  To  suppose  the  delegates  will  misrepresent  their  con- 
stituents is  a  supposition  contrary  to  our  experience,  and  is  against  the 
theory  and  practice  of  our  government. 

If,  however,  a  majority  of  the  legislature  shall  be  of  different  opin- 
ion as  to  our  power  of  limiting  the  convention,  I  will  still  co-operate  in 
the  call,  while  I  think  it  will  be  altogether  discretionary  with  the  con- 
vention, when  organized,  whether  or  not  they  will  be  governed  by  these 
limitations.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  extraordinary  importance  of  the 
issue  demands  that  it  should  not  be  complicated  with  other  questions. 
Already  four  of  the  southern  States  have  withdrawn  from  the  Union, 
and  nearly  all  of  the  remainder  of  the  slave  States  will  have  followed 
before  the  fourth  of  March;  we  have  like  interest  and  like  grievances 
with  them,  ard  surrounded  by  common  charges  have  the  same  motive 
to  action. 

The  government  is  virtually  destroyed  ;  we  cannot  remain  idle  spec- 
tators, we  must  continue  under  the  rule  of  the  north  or  go  with  our 
friends  of  the  South.  The  indications  are,  that  all  of  our  sister  south- 
ern States,  with  a  single  exception,  will  call  conventions  at  an  early  day, 
■while  all,  both  north  and  south,  seem  to  be  preparing  for  the  conflict. 


3 


Shall  North-Carolina  do  nothing  ?  For  two  months  we  have  sit  here 
without  coming  to  a  conclusion. 

We  are  invited  to  consult  and  take  action  with,  some  of  our  sister 
States,  shall  we  refuse  to  take  counsel  with  them?  If  North-Cai-olina 
wishes  to  lay  down  an  ultimatum,  the  legislature  is  nnt  the  proper  body. 
For  twenty  years  southern  legislatures  have,  in  vain,  made  their  re- 
monstrances against  the  aggressive  acts  of  the  north,  an  ultimatum  laid 
down  by  this  legislature  would  have  a  like  result,  for  they  know  we 
have  do  such  power.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  in  getting  our  wrongs 
redressed  is,  the  north  believes,  that  we  are  divided,  that  among  the 
people  south  they  have  numerous  advocates  of  their  side  of  the  question; 
a  delay  of  southern  States  to  make  preparation  for  prompt  action  will 
confirm  them  in  their  opinion  and  make  them  more  determined  and  ob- 
stinate in  their  resistance  to  our  just  demands. 

We  can  only  act  by  a  convection ;  tho  Constitution  ef  the  United 
States  provides  that  "  no  State,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  shall 
enter  into  any  compact  with  any  other  State.'' 

The  people  of  each  of  the  Slates,  in  their  sovereign,  representative 
capacity,  are  the  only  tribunals  to  judge  of  the  infractions  of  the 
federal  compact,  and  to  decide  on  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress. 
Great  Britain  acknowledged  the  independence  of  thirteen  separate 
States  who  by  that  act  became  independent  nations.  Afterwards  those 
nations  made  mutual  treaties  with  each  other  in  the  shape  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  delegating  to  the  government  certain  powers  to  be 
held  for  the  benefit  and  mutual  protection  of  the  people  of  all  the 
States.  Sovereign  States  are  the  judges  of  the  due  execution  of  trea- 
ties and  compacts  made  between  them.  We  have  no  tribunal  created 
for  the  purpose  of  deciding  disputed  political  questions  between  the 
General  Government  and  State  governments.  The  States  in  their  sov- 
ereign capacities,  through  the  action  of  the  people,  created  the  Federal 
Union,  and,  like  nations  making  treaties  with  each  other,  must,  of  ne- 
cessity, judge  of  their  due  execution.  Any  wilful  act  of  violation  of 
the  federal  compact  is  a  just  cause  of  dissolution  of  the  Union,  but 
whether  a  dissolution  shall  be  insisted  on  is  a  question  of  policy  to  be 
decided  by  the  aggrieved  party.  If  a  State  decides  to  withdraw,  her 
citizens  owe  no  allegiance  to  the  Union  of  States;  they  have  to  look  to 
their  State  for  their  allegiance  and  protection. 

We  are,  however,  told  by  some  we  are  traitors,  and  are  liable  to  be 
-condemned  and  executed  for  the  treason.  Does  the  compact  of  the 
thirteen  States  bind  us  together  any  stronger  than  the  colonies  were 
bound  to  Great  Britain  ?  They  revolted  against  the  British  govern- 
ment; and  their  citizens  were  never  treated  as  traitors.  The  resistance 
by  armed  torce  on  the  part  of  citizens  to  their  government  is  adjudged 
by  the  laws  of  nations  to  be  treason,  while  resistance  of  citizens  under 
•an  organized  government  has  never  been  considered  treason. 

The  American  States  are  the  boasted  asylum  of  the  down-trodden 
and  oppressed  of  all  countries  ;  the  home  of  the  political  refugees  of 
9.11  nations.     Will  it  be  said  that  they  can  stay  the  hand  of  the  oppres- 

•*• 
ft 


sor  against  all  except  her  own  people?  If  this  be  so,  we  have  to  leara 
new  ideas  of  American  liberty.  Call  it  treason,  rebellion,  or  lawful  se- 
cession, North  Carolina  will  withdraw  from  tbe  Union  unless  her  rights 
are  protected  in  it. 

If  the  next  Administration  shall  pursue  an  aggressive  policy,  with- 
out a  convention  to  take  us  promptly  out  of  the  Union,  our  State  will 
be  in  a  very  defenceless  condition.  If  it  should  become  necessary  to 
secede,  our  enemies  would  have  it  in  their  power  to  occupy  our  forts 
and  strong  points  with  their  troops  before  we  could  convene  the  legis- 
lature for  the  purpose  of  calling  a  convention,  Let  us  have  the  repre- 
sentative popular  will  in  a  condition  to  speak. 

There  are  those  who  hope  that  the  dlfficuties  may  be  adjusted.  I 
heartily  wish  they  may,  though  I  see  no  grounds  on  which  to  indulge 
the  hope.  Our  safety  lies  in  prompt  withdrawal,  unless  immediate 
evidences  are  given  that  our  rights  will  be  admitted  and  maintained  in 
the  Union. 

The  Federal  Constitution  was  formed  for  the  protection  of  the  per- 
sons and  property  of  the  citizens  of  the  States  ;  in  the  present  state  of 
the  public  mind,  it  is  rapidly  becoming  powerless  for  either.  Many  of 
the  northern  States  boldly  ignore  the  constitution  by  their  press,  their 
public  opinion,  and  their  statute  laws.  They  have  nullified  the  statute  of 
Congress  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  have  made  it  penal  for 
persons  to  arrest  or  assist  in  the  arresting  of  runaway  negroes.  Their 
citizens  steal  and  entice  away,  annually,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars of  slave  property,  and  when  the  hand  of  justice  demands  the  pun- 
ishment of  their  crimes,  they  are  protected  by  their  State  authorities, 
that  deny  the  negro  is  the  subject  of  property.  Armed  bands  of  law- 
less men  have  been  sent  into  the  common  territories  for  the  purpose  of 
driving  off  southern  men  with  their  slave  property  so  as  to  increase  the 
number  of  slave  States;  emmissaries  have  been  sent  into  the  States  to 
excite  servile  war  and  insurrection.  The  have  attempted  to  destroy  the 
peace  and  safety  of  our  homes  by  the  application  of  the  torch  of  the 
incendiary,  and  the  knife  of  the  assassin.  In  the  border  States  they 
have  urged  the  slave  to  use  every  means  for  the  destruction  of  his 
master,  with  the  promise  of  protection  if  he  could  make  his  escape  into 
their  States.  They  have  invaded  their  sister  States  with  armed  forces  for 
thepurpose  of  exciting  slaves  to  rebellion.  Having  failed  in  the  execution 
of  that  wretched  purpose,  some  of  them  made  their  escape,  and  having 
been  demanded  as  refugees  from  justice,  were  protected  by  the  govern- 
ors of  States  whose  plain  constitutional  duty  was  to  have  surrendered 
them 

When  the  raid  into  Virginia  was  investigated,  prominent  citizens  of 
northern  States  were  discovered  to  have  been  complicated  with  it,  and 
men  high  in  place  were  fixed  with  a  guilty  knowledge ;  in  the  place  of 
punishmens  for  their  crimes  they  are  advanced  higher  in  public  estima- 
tion. Large  numbers  of  people  celebrate  the  execution  of  the  principal 
felon  as  martyrdom  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  These  fanatics  pro- 
claim the  Union  a -'covenant  with  hell,"  and  avow  their  purpose  to 
use  it  for  our  destruction,  m ,» 


5 


A  distinguished  son  of  our  own  State,  a  few  years  past,  received  an 
appointment  from  the  government  to  a  foreign  mission,  and  while  on 
his  way  to  the  place  of  his  duties,  in  passing  through  a  nortnern  State 
with  his  servants,  they  were  forcibly  taken  from  him  without  compen- 
sation, and  no  redress,  either  by  the  State  or  General  Government,  was 
ever  offered  to  him.  Had  a  foreign  m:nister  of  another  country  received 
the  like  injury  and  insult,  a  prompt  demand  for  redress  would  have 
been  made,  had  it  not  been  given,  the  wrong  would  have  been  avenged 
with  the  sword.  They  have  been  taught  to  hate  and  dispise  us;  there 
is,  to-day,  greater  feelings  of  hostility  between  the  two  sections  of  / 
country  than  there  was  between  great  Britain  and  our  States  previous 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution.  They  have  consummated  ihe 
crowning  act  by  the  election  ot  a  sectional  President,  who,  if  he  were 
to  go  into  fifteen  of  the  southern  States  and  proclaim  his  principles, 
would  be  adjudged  a  felon  by  the  laws  of  those  States.  With  all  these 
outrages  staring  us  in  the  face,  we  are  gravely  told  that  there  is  no 
cause  for  disunion,  that  we  should  be  worse  off  with  our  institutions  out 
of  it  than  in  it  A  tame  submission  to  the  hand  of  aggression  has 
always  been  followed  up  with  the  iron  heel  of  tyranny;  if  a  single  act 
would  finish  the  wrong,  expediency  might  consider  the  policy  of  sub- 
mission. All  history  teaches  us  whenever  a  people  quietly  submit  tov- 
wilful  oppression,  the  day  of  their  degradation  is  near  at  hand. 

The  wild  fanaticism  that  has  brought  about  the  election  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  commenced  exhibiting 
itself  in  the  halls  of  Congress  about  a  quarter  of  a  centmy  ago.  At 
first  it  attracted  but  little  attention  ;  it  was  considered  the  ravings  of 
diseased  imaginations.  Initiated  at  an  early  day  into  the  pulpit,  it  be- 
gan to  extend  to  the  press  and  to  political  assemblies,  and  has  extended 
itself  from  year  to  year,  until  a  majority  of  the  people  are  tainted  with 
it.  All  the  northern  legislatures  are  in  its  crushing  grasp,  and  are 
ready  to  obey  its  mandates.  Soon  after  the  nomination  of  Lincoln,  his 
friends  declared  that  his  election  would  be  the  downfall  of  slavery;  and 
after  his  election  they  declared  that  the  southern  States  were  and  would 
continue  to  be  without  influence  in  the  government. 

They  have  declared  that  they  will  get  possession  of  the  entire  gov- 
ernment and  abolish  slavery  according  to  law.     They  would  have  had 
the  entire  control  of  all  the  departments  of  government  after  the  next 
ongress   even  if  none  of  the  States  had  withdra  wn 

The  apportionment  unde"  the  census  of  1860  gives  four  additional 
members  to  the  present  number ;  the  south  loses  eighteen,  which  will 
require  a  gain  of  twenty  to  enable  them  to  hold  their  own.  If  the  ap- 
portionment had  been  made  before  the  present  Congress  was  elected, 
the  black  republicans  would  have  had  a  decided  majority  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  With  every  northern  legislature  under  their  con- 
trol, they  will  gerrymander  the  Congressional  districts,  so  as  to  stifle 
the  voice  of  the  patriotic  citizens,  and  instead  of  losing  members,  they 
will  take  nearly  ad  they  have  to  elect.  If  there  should  be  any  reaction 
with  the  people,  the  executive   patronage  with  the  gerrymandering  of 


legislative  districts  will  keep  up  the  majorities  in  the  several  legislatures. 

The  year  1863,  with  the  admission  of  Kansas,  will  complete  their 
control  of  the  Senate,  if  the  Senators  from  all  the  States  were  present. 
Thus  their  control  of  both  branches  of  Congress  would  be  complete. 
Six  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  are  very  old.  In  the  natural 
course  of  events  during  the  next  administration  vacancies  must  happen, 
which,  if  filled  with  these  partizans,  will  give  them  the  majority  of  the 
court ;  this  gives  them  the  control  of  the  entire  Federal  government. 
In  the  mean  time  if  vacancies  should  not  occur  fast  enough  to  suit  their 
purposes,  the  land  offices  under  their  control,  frei  homes  under  the 
homestead  bill,  emigrant  aid  societies  actively  at  work  with  the  proper 
direction  of  foreign  immigration,  the  black  republicans  can  locate  popu- 
lation with  that  already  in  the  territories  for  the  manufacture  of  at  least 
ten  if  not  twelve  new  States  in  the  next  administration.  These  new 
States  would  require  an  increase  of  the  number  of  supreme  court 
judges,  which  would  give  them  the  court;  but  if  they  shoula  fail  in  all 
this,  they  will  not  hesitate,  with  both  branches  of  Congress  in  their 
power,  to  re-organize  the  court  and  increase  the  number  of  judges 
regardless  of  the  public  wants.  All  they  would  want  of  a  cordon  of 
free  States  around  us  would  be  a  slice  of  Mexican  territory  on  the  west 
of  Texas ;  with  the  power  in  their  hands  they  would  not  fail  to  acquire 
it  either  by  purchase  or  conquest. 

The  republicans  possessed  of  the  control  of  all  the  departments  of 
government — executive,  legislative  and  judicial,  backed  up  with  the 
army  and  navy,  and  sustained  by  all  the  northern  legislatures  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  fanaticism  and  higher  law  consciences,  the  South 
would  be  in  a  very  defenceless  condition.  Our  forts  ana  other  places 
occupied  by  the  Federal  government  to  carry  out  their  edicts,  their 
emmissaries  from  the  border  free  States  inciting  insurrection  and  steal- 
ing negroes ;  with  their  vessels  plundering  the  large  plantations  imme- 
diately on  the  coast,  they  would  begin  the  work  in  earnest  of  reducing 
the  area  of  slavery. 

The  effect  of  this  policy  carried  out,  which  is  the  avowed  policy  of 
the  next  administration,  would  bring  ruin  on  society  and  all  the  great 
industrial  and  productive  pursuits  of  the  South. 

Under  this  policy  the  price  of  land  would  advance  and  labor  depreci- 
ate; and  from  the  necessity  of  the  case  slave  labor  would  come  in  competi- 
tion with  white  labor.  High  prices  would  induce  many  of  the  more  ener- 
getic non-slaveholders  to  sell  their  land  and  immigrate  to  a  new  free 
State  where  land  would  be  cheaper.  The  black  populat:on  would 
increuse  very  rapidly,  while  the  white  would  diminish.  Many  of  the 
wealthy  people,  as  was  the  case  in  some  of  the  West  India  Islands, 
would  reside  abroad,  and  take  away  each  year  for  investment  the  nett 
proceeds  of  their  crops.  The  land  owners  feeling  but  little  interest  in 
a  country  they  know  to  be  doomed,  there  would  be  no  incentive  to  the 
improvement  of  the  soil,  while  the  price  of  labor  would  be  depreciating 
the  productive  value  of  the  land  would  diminish. 
1    The  white  population,  under  an  unnatural  pressure,  with  the  induce- 


meats  for  emigration  to  the  new  free  States,  would  rapidly  diminish, 
while  the  slave  population,  being  eonBned  to  a  limited  district,  would 
as  rapidly  increase.  At  no  distant  day  the  country  would  have  a  re- 
dundant population,  with  the  mgro  largely  in  the  excess.  If  the  ne- 
gro should  murder  the  white  race,  as  was  done  in  the  island  of  St.  Do- 
mingo, the  homes  of  our  ancestors  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
half-civilized  Africans,  who  would  soon  relapse  into  barbarism;  and  the 
fairest  and  most  productive  fields  of  America  would  be  occupied  by  the 
savage.  Ultimately  the  wants  of  the  superior  race  would  require  the 
expulsion  of  the  negro  from  the  sugar,  rice  and  cotton  fields,  to  be 
worked  by  some  inferior  race  under  the  hand  of  constraint. 

But,  owing  to  the  greater  diversity  of  soil,  climate,  health  and  pro- 
duction, I  do  not  think  our  country  would  be  a  like  case  to  St.  Domin- 
go. The  rich,  miasmatic  districts  being  more  productive  and  less 
healthy,  the  negro  population  at  an  early  day  would  rapidly  accumu- 
late in  them,  while  the  greater  part  of  the  white  population  would 
either  emigrate  or  go  to  the  more  salubrious  districts  of  the  upland  and 
mountain  sections.  Frequent  insurrections  would  occur  in  the  districts 
densely  populated  by  slaves ;  the  servants  from  other  districts  would 
run  away  and  receive  protection  among  them.  Thus  there  would  exist 
for  years  a  guerrilla  war  between  the  races.  Ultimately  in  the  districts 
of  excessive  slave  population  the  slave  would  overpower  the  white  man. 
The  couotry  would  present  alternate  neighborhoods  of  the  two  races, 
unless  the  superior  race,  excited  at  the  massacres  of  its  own  race,  should 
commence  and  wage  a  bloody  war  of  exterminatiun.  If  they  did,  the 
result  would  not  long  remain  in  doubt ;  the  African,  like  the  other  sa- 
vage races,  would  become  extinct  by  famine  and  war. 

Let  us,  however,  look  at  the  Abolitionist  view  of  the  question.  They 
believe  that  there  is  an  equality  between  the  white  and  black  races 
which  will  be  eventually  asserted;  that  free  negroes  and  white  men 
will  live  mixed  up  in  one  common  nation  ;  that  the  two  races  will  inter- 
marry. What  would  the  white  man  thi^k  of  a  negro  son-in-law  or 
negro  daughter-in-law  ?  As  unnatural  as  it  may  appear  this  condition 
of  society  is  tolerated  by  their  teachings.  What  would  be  said  of  white 
children,  negro  and  mulatto  children  mingled  together  in  the  same 
church,  going  to  the  same  school,  and  eating  at  the  same  table?  Schools 
and  colleges  have  been  built  up  for  this  purpose,  already  in  some  of  the 
free  States. 

This  ia  no  distorted  view ;  it  is  the  legitimate  result  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  equality  of  races,  as  taught  by  abolitionism.  If  the  non-sl.ive- 
holder  should  be  unwilling  to  fight  for  the  slave  property,  he  will  ever 
be  found  resisting  negro  equality  and  free  negro  aggression.  When- 
ever the  issue  shall  be  fairly  made  up  and  presented,  shall  the  negroes 
remain  slaves  or  become  free  negroes  among  us,  the  voice  of  North 
Carolina  will  respond  from  Currituck  to  Cherokee,  no  more  free  negroes 
in  our  State.  The  white  man  will  never  permit  his  wife  and  daughter 
and  children  to  descend  to  an  equality  with  free  negroes.  He  will 
never  submit  to  live  in  a  land  of  free  negroes  and  amalgamation.     He 


8 


would  fight  the  bloodiest  war  of  extermination  that  has  ever  been  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  time. 

But  take  another  view  of  the  subject  :  suppose  the  negro,  after  being 
liberated,  was  to  consent  to  live  in  a  state  of  inferiority  among  us,  their 
presence  would  become  intolerable.  Disposed,  under  the  most  favora- 
ble circumstances  to  be  lazy  and  vicious,  they  would  make  no  provisions 
for  themselves  or  families,  but  rely  on  stealing  and  plundering  for  their 
support  Already  in  our  State  the  lands  in  the  neighborhood  of  free 
negroes  are  depreciated  from  their  presence.  If  our  people  cannot 
stand  forty  thousand  free  negroes,  what  would  they  say  to  half  a  mil- 
lion of  them  in  lieu  of  the  present  number  of  slaves.  If  these  negroes 
were  freed,  there  is  not  enough  money  in  the  State  to  send  them  to  Libe- 
ria; and  the  northern  States  would  never  agree  to  take  them  into  their 
midst.  I  venture  to  predict  there  is  not  an  intelligent  non-slaveholder 
in  the  State  but  what  would  say  it  would  be  better  for  the  negroes  and 
better  for  the  whites,  that  these  slaves  should  be  kept  in  slavery  than 
to  be  turned  loose  on  society.  The  people  of  North-Carolina  will  never 
submit  to  be  crowded  out  by  a  free  negro  population ;  nor  will  they 
consent  to  allow  the  slave  population  to  become  excessive  ior  the  want 
of  room  for  expansion. 

Any  person  who  will  examine  into  the  history  of  the  negroe  will  see 
that  his  condition  is  greatly  improved  bv  his  servitude  under  an  Ameri- 
can master.  So  long  as  the  fr^sh  soils  further  south  are  open  for 
his  labor,  we  can  have  no  excess  of  that  kind  of  population ;  the  virgin 
soils  will  draw  them  away  quite  as  fast  as  we  can  spare  them.  Our  true 
policy  is  to  keep  the  territory  to  the  south  of  us  open.  If  we  were  a 
seperate  confederacy  we  should  have  uo  difficulty  in  acquiring,  by  pur- 
chase, such  territory  as  we  may  from  time  to  time  need. 

In  the  present  condition  of  the  country,  we  are  all  interested  in  slavery, 
and  with  no  law  limiting  the  ownership  of  this  sort  of  property  to  any 
particular  family,  all  can  acquire  it  who  wish.  The  large  slave  owner 
of  this  generation  is  the  chid  of  him  that  owned  none  in  a  preceding 
generation ,  and  he  that  owns  none  at  the  present  is  frequently  descended 
from  the  large  owner  of  a  preceding  day.  Property  under  our  institu- 
tions is  constantly  changing  hands.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  pru- 
dent and  industrious  men  from  accumulating  it,  and  they  can  invest  in 
land,  negroes,  stocks,  bonds  or  any  of  the  industrial  pursuits  at  their 
option. 

Negro,  like  other  property,  yields  a  support  to  all  the  departments  of 
the  government ;  it  pays  tax  both  in  peace  and  war,  and  is  a  part  of  the 
capital  of  the  country.  Tt  is  estimated  that  of  the  $12,000,000  of  cot- 
ton, corn,  wheat,  tobacco,  naval  stores,  lumber,  fish,  fruit,  and  other 
products  exported,  at  least  $11,000,000  is  the  product  of  slave  labor. 
The  great  swamp  district  which  it  was  said  by  the  late  Mr.  Gallatin, 
was  destined  to  become  the  great  grainery  of  the  country,  between  the 
coast  aod  the  Alleghany  ridge,  is  dependent  on  this  labor  for  its  develop- 
ment, and  when  developed  will  produce  an  excess  of  pork  for  home  pur- 
poses, and  five  times  the  grain  that  the  entire  State  now  yields.  The 
mining  interest  will  look  to  this  source  for  development,  or  will  have  to 


depend  on  that  class  of  foreign  population  which  has  done  so  much  to 
injure  northern  society  ;  a  population  which  no  man  wants  among  us 
who  is  fully  acquainted  with  it. 

From  the  proceeds  of  slave-grown  labor  the  merchant  gets  his  money 
to  pay  for  his  goods  bought  out  of  the  State,  and  exchange  is  supplied 
to  pay  the  interest  on  the  debt  of  North  Carolina,  which  will  soon  amount 
to  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  true;  that  the  merchant  receives  from 
the  non-slaveholder  money  that  was  earned  by  his  own  labor ;  but  what 
would  that  money  be  worth  in  New  York  unless  produce  is  sent  there 
to  redeem  the  bank  notes  ?  It  is  very  clear  that  if  we  buy  of  a  North- 
ern State  ten  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  goods,  we  must  either  send  the 
gold  and  silver  or  some  kind  of  produce  to  pay  for  them.  The  merchant 
usually  takes  with  him  exchange  which  is  the  proceeds  of  produce  sold 
in  other  markets,  or  he  takes  with  him  bank  bills  to  pay  for  his  goods, 
and  the  person  who  receives  the  bills  sends  them  back  to  the  State  and 
they  are  redeemed  by  the  proceeds  of  the  produce  sales. 

Many  of  the  comforts  of  life  are  derived  from  this  kind  of  labor  our 
tables  and  firesides  constantly  keep  them  before  our  eyes.  The  sugar, 
coffee,  molasses,  and  cotton  we  use  are  derived  from  it.  and  without  this 
labor  these  articles  would  become  of  such  high  price  that  a  man  of  mod- 
erate means  could  not  afford  to  use  them. 

Abolish  slavery,  says  the  Abolitionist,  and  white  men  will  come  in 
to  cultivate  the  soil  and  make  up  the  deficit  of  production.  A  large 
part  of  these  slave-grown  products  are  grown  in  countries  where  the 
white  man  cannot  labor,  for  the  want  of  health;  but  the  negro  can,  free 
from  any  unusual  sickness  What  would  become  of  the  white  man  and 
his  family  growing  sugar  in  Louisiana,  in  the  Mississippi  bottom,  or  cot- 
ton on  the  Red  or  Arkansas  river,  or  corn  on  the  bottoms  of  the  Roa- 
noke, the  Tar  and  Neuse,  or  rice  on  the  Cape  Fear  or  Peedee  ?  They 
could  not  live.  If  these  negroeswere  liberated  they  would  still  be  among 
us,  and  experience  teaches  that  they  will  not  work  without  a  master. 
Southern  slavery  has  done  more  to  civilize  the  African  than  the  com- 
bined action  of  all  the  missionaries  of  the  world.  The  African  in  his 
native  land  was  a  cannibal,  a  man  that  would  eat  his  own  species ;  here 
is  a  half  c  vilized  man  who  has  his  own  condition  improved  and  contri- 
butes to  the  comforts  of  others. 

History  teaches  that  no  nation  has  lost  its  institutions  without  losing 
its  nationality,  they  are  so  intimately  intei woven  that  there  is  a  mutu- 
ality of  dependence.  Man  is  much  the  creature  of  education — his  habits 
are  a  second  nature,  and  when  sudderly  changed  against  his  will,  his 
progressive  action  becomes  paralyzed  and  is  liable  to  become  subjugated 
by  the  first  superior  power  that  comes  in  collision  with  him.  Greece 
yielded  her  institutions  and  with  them  her  nationality  to  Rome.  Cen- 
turies after,  the  Romans  in  like  manner  yielded  to  the  northern  nations 
of  Europe  ;  the  Norman  overrode  the  Anglo-Saxon,  who  did  not  recover 
his  nationality  until  he  regained  his  institutions.  If  the  history  of  the 
past  be  an  index  to  the  future,  no  two  races  can  occupy  the  sam^coun- 
try  on  terms  of  equality. 

The  change  of  our  labor  institutions  would  paralyze  all   the   depart- 


■/ 


10 


merits  of  industry,  the  planter,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  the  ship- 
owner, and  all  the  avocations  of  life  would  sustain  great  injuries.  In 
undergoing  the  change  our  people  would  suffer  for  a  century  to  come, 
while  the  African  will  not  be  benefitted.  Our  towns  and  villages  would 
go  to  de^ay  for  want  of  business,  our  railroads  to  ruin  for  the  want  of 
employment,  and  rich  fields  of  cotton  and  grain  would  be  exchanged 
for  the  old  field  pine,  while  much  of  the  better  classes,  both  slaveholder 
and  non-slaveholder  would  seek  a  home  in  a  more   prosperous  country. 

There  is  no  case  in  history  in  which  republics  have  existed  for  any 
length  of  time  without  slavery ;  in  many  of  the  most  renowned  battle 
fields  there  were  more  Grecian  slaves  than  Grecian  soldiers.  George 
III  previous  to  the  Revolutionary  war  was  admonished  by  one  of  his 
wisest  counsellors  that  unless  he  abolished  slavery  in  the  colonies  they 
would  abolish  his  authority.  Every  citizen  has  an  interest  in  all  the 
property  of  his  government,  because  the  property  contributes  to  the  sup- 
port of  government.  Money  and  provisions  are  as  essential  to  war  as 
soldiers,  and  whenever  the  purse  is  emptied,  or  the  credit  that  supplies 
it  is  exhai  sted,  the  war  ends,  regardless  of  the  maintenance  of  our  rights. 
Ifc  is  the  property  of  the  country  that  gives  money  and  credit,  without 
these  there  can  be  no  national  defence. 

Every  species  of  property  makes  up  the  sum  total  of  a  national  wealth 
which  helps  to  throw  the  shield  of  protection  around  all,  both  land,  ne- 
groes, money  stocks,  agricultural  products  and  implements,  ships,  goods, 
wares  and  merchandize,  horses,  hogs,  cattle,  mules,  sheep,  mechanical 
implements,  and  every  other  species  of  effects  go  into  the  account  of  a 
nation's  means,  and  all  these  different  kinds  of  property  call  alike  on 
tne  government  for  protection,  for  each  contributes  to  the  protection 
of  every  person. 

It  has  sometimes  been  suggested  that  he  that  owns  no  slaves  will  feel 
no  interest  in  the  controversy  between  the  North  and  Snuth.  This  can- 
not be  so,  for  he  has  his  person  and  property  requiring  protection  as  well 
as  the  slave  owner;  if  he  has  less  property  to  protect,  he  has  not  less  of 
what  is  far  more  important  to  all,  his  liberty  and  life.  If  the  landed 
interest,  is  assailed  will  the  non-slaveholder  say,  I  own  no  land,  and  will 
therefore  give  you  no  assistance.  If  the  contest  grows  too  warm  I 
will  go  to  some  country  of  more  peace  and  quiet  ;  but  he  cannot  always 
go,  he  has  other  interests  that  will  bind  him  to  the  soil. 

If  the  ship  laden  by  the  merchant  with  our  products  should  be  attacked 
and  destroyed  on  distant  seas,  would  the  farmer,  the  mechanic,  the  laborer, 
and  others,  who  own  no  ships,  say  I  have  no  interest  in  it,  and  therefore 
will  not  join  in  an  effort  to  avenge  the  wrong  ?  If  these  attacks  continue 
to  be  made  I  will  have  my  effects  carried  by  British  vessels.  ?^o  such  re- 
sponse would  be  made ;  they  would  say  the  flag  of  my  country  has  been 
wronged ;  that  flag  that  gives  protection  to  the  persons  and  property  of  all  ; 
we  will  avenge  it.  To  illustrate  this  further,  suppose  one  man  owns  cattle, 
another  horses,  another  mules,  and  another  hogs ;  if  the  man  that  owns 
cattle  should  be  attacked,  will  the  others  refuse  to  assist?  if  each  of  the 
others  should  be  assailed  in  like  manner  he  would  have  to  look  to  his  own 
arm  for  protection,  and  thus  all  would  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  strong  hand 
of  their  better  organized  enemy.     Suppose  a  cruel  and  relentless  attack; 


11 


should  be  made  on  the  mechanical  inlerest  of  the  country,  would  others  say 
we  have  no  concern  in  it,  we  can  get  our  wants  suppled  elsewhere,  you  must 
take  care  of  yourselves.  If  this  rule  is  to  apply  to  property  it  will  be  ex- 
tended to  persons.  If  the  sailor  on  a  foreign  sea  shall  be  oppressed  of  his 
rights,  would  our  countrymen  at  home  desert  him  !  Never  ;  the  persons  and 
property  of  every  kind  would  extend  the  strong  arm  of  protection.  Persons 
protect  property,  which  in  return  gives  the  country  increased  means  for  the 
protection  of  persons.  The  purse  gives  not  only  munitions  of  war,  but  has 
often  contributed  soldiers ;  many  of  the  best  fought  battles  of  England  have 
received  assistance  from  the  foreign  soldier. 

The  war  of  1812  was  fought  for  the  rights  of  our  seamen,  and  the  whole 
country  with  all  its  property  contributed  to  it.  A  nominal  tax  on  tea, 
which  was  used  by  very  few  persons,  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  Re- 
volutionary war ;  a  glorious  revolution,  in  which  all  banded  together  in  a 
common  cause  and  gave  protection  to  our  rights. 

The  question  is,  do  slaves  constitute  a  part  of  our  property — do  they  in- 
crease the  products  of  the  country  and  contribute  to  our  national  wealth 
and  to  the  support  of  the  government?  If  they  do,  this  kind  of  property  is 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  govenment. 

When  ever  in  any  country  the  doctrine  is  established  that  no  man  is  under 
obligations  to  protect  property  of  the  kind  of  which  he  has  none,  the  con- 
nects of  the  different  sorts  of  property  holders  will  be  so  great  that  the  de- 
struction of  society  will  be  inevitable.  The  war  will  not  be  to  protect  us 
from  aggressions  abroad  but  will  be  for  each  class  of  property  holders  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  attacks  of  the  others.  The  entire  government 
would  be  disintegrated,  and  we  should  all  be  involved  in  one  common 
agrariaoism  and  soon  have  nothing  to  protect. 

It  may  be  said  that  ii  slavery  was  abolished  the  prices  of  lands  would  go 
down  ;  so  would  every  other  kind  of  property.  If  you  go  to  the  country 
where  there  are  no  slaves,  the, land  is  in  possession  of  the  capitalist;  so  it 
would  be  here,  the  capital  would  seek  land  for  investment,  and  the  land 
owner,  with  a  view  to  enhance  it,  wonld  do  as  has  been  done  in  the  North- 
ern States,  invite  foreign  labor,  which  would  come  in  competition  with  the 
present  white  laborer ;  this  foreign  labor  with  the  free  negro  labor,  would 
be  found  to  be  very  oppressive  to  the  poor.  It  is  a  fact  well  worthy  of  note 
that  the  Southern  States,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  have  not  the 
number  of  paupers  nor  criminals  that  the  Northern  States  have. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  non-slaveholder  has  no  interest  in  slavery.  The 
school  fund  that  is  appropriated  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  all,  levies  a 
contribution  on  this  property.  The  infirm  poor  who  has  no  home,  looks  in  part 
to  it,  for  his  support.  It  contributes  to  the  support  of  all  the  branches  of  gov- 
ernment, and  alike  to  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  person  of  all.  If  North- 
ern property  and  stocks  shall  depreciate  $400,000,000  at  the  prospect  of  losing 
the  benefit  of  the  trade  of  the  slave  States,  what  would  be  the  effect  if  slavery 
were  abolished.  Neither  the  Naithern  States  nor  Great  Britain  could  do  with- 
out cotton  supplies.  In  confirmation  of  this,  while  every  other  species  of  prop- 
erty has  depreciated,  cotton  has"advanced,  on  the  belief  that  the  condition  of  the 
country  might  shorten  the  supply, 

If  a  large  dealer,  in  any  county  in  the  State  fails,  he  usually  injures  his 
neighbors,  and  not  infrequently  takes  some  of  them  with  him  into  bankruptcy. 
He  owes  his  neighbor  a  debt,  who  expects  to  get  it  to  pay  another  neighbor, 
who  in  turn  expects  to  pay  with  it  some  other  obligation  ;  he  fails  to  collect, 
he  is  sued,and  in  return  he  sues,  their  suits  cause  many  others.  Suppose  a  half 
dozen  extensive  dealers  were  to  fail  in  a  county,  it  would  carry  ruin  to  many 
families.     What  would  this  be  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  property  in  a  county, 


12 


a  majority  of  the  owners  of  which,  without  it,  would  be  unable  to  pay  their 
liabilities.  What  would  they  have  with  which  to  pay  their  debts  ?  With  the 
majority  of  the  slaveholders  bankrupt,  where  would  the  house  carpenter,  the 
coach-maker,  the  tailor,  shoe-maker,  wagon  and  wheel-maker,  and  blacksmith, 
and  cabinet-maker,  and  other  mechanics  find  market  for  their  man- 
ufactures ? — How  would  the  merchant  get  his  money  to  buy  goods 
with,  or  any  other  person  whose  necessities  required  him  to  raise 
it?  Those  who  had  money  due,  could  buy  their  debtor's  property 
at  any  price,  while  the  entire  county,  if  dependent  on  its  own  people 
for  purchasers  would  become  bankrupt.  But  what  would  become  of  the  entire 
country  if  $2,000,000,000  of  slave  property  was  destroyed?  There  is  no  coun- 
try in  the  world,  that  could  withstand  the  shock.  Bankruptcy  and  ruin  would 
overwhelm  the  entire  population ;  hunger  aud  want  would  stalk  through  the 
land  ;  an  amount  of  suffering  unknown  to  any  civilized  country  would  ensue, 
labor  would  want  employment,  and  all  business  would  stop.  Suppose  the  non- 
slaveholder  objects  to  slavery  because  it  cheapens  labor,  and  in  some  instances 
comes  into  competition  with  him.  So  does  every  labor  saving  machine  or  in- 
vention. The  rail-roads  and  steamboats  of  the  country  have  taken  away  the 
employment  of  thousands  of  laborers,  while  the  sewing  machine  has  supplanted 
the  business  of  millions.  Every  improved  agricultural  implement  diminishes 
the  demand  for  labor,  and  the  workshop  of  every  mechanic  and  the  factory  of 
every  manufacturer  is  filled  with  inventions  that  save  labor  and  increase  the 
profits  of  capital.  If  competition  is  to  be  a  cause  of  abolishing  slave  labor,  the 
same  reason  would  drive  the  horses,  mules  and  oxen  from  the  country  when 
the  population  becomes  more  dense.  If  these  animals  were  taken  from  the 
farm,  the  demand  for  agricultural  labor  would  be  quadrupled.  It  is  the  con- 
flict between  labor  and  capital,  and  is  going  in  every  civilized  country  in  the 
world.  Capital  wants  to  increase  its  profits,  and  labor  wishes  to  increase  its 
wages.  When  the  negro  labor  is  confined  to  the  fields  and  menial  service,  and 
the  white  labor  is  employed  in  the  mechanical  and  other  higher  pursuits,  we 
shall  have  an  improvement  on  what  is  already  the  best  system  of  labor  known 
to  the  world — and  so  long  as  sugar,  coffee,  rice  and  cotton  are  necessary  to  the 
wants  and  comforts  of  civilized  man,  the  negro  or  some  other  race  will,  under 
the  constraint  of  superior  intellect  cultivate  them. 

In  vain  have  I  looked  for  the  the  streaks  of  returning  light ;  the  darkness 
and  gloom  thickens.  A  few  hopeful  meetings  have  been  held  in  some  of 
the  fanatical  States,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  great  change  of  popular 
sentiment  that  is  necessary  for  the  safe  recognition  of  our  rights.  For 
twenty-five  years  we  have  been  told  to  wait,  that  the  slavery  fanaticism 
was  a  sort  of  moral  epidemic  that  would  work  its  own  cu:e.  We  are  still 
told  to  wait,  although  it  will  soon  have  the  government,  the  purse  and 
sword,  with  which  to  crush  us  ;  it  has  been  taught  them  as  a  part  of  their 
edii cation  ana  religion. 

The  opening  prayers  of  their  sabbath-schools  teaches  the  tender  minds  to 
hate  us;  and  their  common  shool  books  have  horrid  pictures  of  negroes  in 
chains,  cruelly  beaten  by  heartless  masters,  with  a  view  to  work  on  the 
sympathies  of  the  young  minds.  Their  ministers  who  ought  to  have  been 
men  of  peace,  have,  every  sabbath,  opened  on  our  southern  institutions ; 
they  have  instructed  mothers  as  of  holy  writ  to  hate  us  ;  they,  in  turn,  have 
instructed  their  cuildren  with  their  own  feelings,  until  a  generation  has 
grown  up  who  ought  to  have  been  our  brothers,  but  they  are  our  bitterest 
enemies.  Not  content  with  invading  all  the  ramifications  of  society  with  its 
pestilentian  spirit ;  it  has  invaded  their  high  schools,  colleges  and  univer- 
sities in  order  to  keep  the  minds  of  educated  men  poisoned.  It  has  invaded 
the  sacred  desk,  and  driven  those  who  were  wont  to  worship  at  the  same 


13 


altar,  to  different  communion  tables,  and  their  churches  that  once  dwelt  in 
harmony,  are  now  divided  with  bitter  enmity.  The  cause  that  is  strong 
enough  to  divide  churches,  will,  when  the  entire  people  become  imbued 
with  it,  divide  States. 

Religious  fanaticism  has  already  seized  the  mind  with  a  firm  grasp,  from 
which  it  is  difficul  to  free  it.  It  becomes  too  wise  to  be  taught,  derives  ail 
its  sources  of  judgment  from  a  misguided  instruction.  Inspired  with  their 
distorted  views  of  holy  writ,  it  hides  its  evil  deeds  beneath  the  garb  of  re- 
ligion, and  whenever  truih  fails  to  establish  its  dogmas  protection  is  sought 
in  the  higher  laws  of  conscience.  You  can  teach  new  generations  to  avoid 
the  follies  of  the  past,  but  you  cannot  teach  the  old  fanatic  to  retrace  his 
steps.  If  Cutton  Mather  had  lived  until  the  present  he  would  have  been  as 
much  the  advocate  of  burning  witches  as  he  was  in  his  own  day.  The 
malady  is  without  cure,  and  should  we  wait  for  another  generation  to  do  us 
justice,  we  should  have  no  rights  to  protect;  the  ruin  of  our  country  will 
have  been  accomplished. 

Amid  all  the  anxiety  to  save  the  Union,  and  the  distress  brought  on  the 
country,  their  President  elect  has  kept  silent  as  the  tomb.  If  he  I iad  in- 
tended to  recognize  the  right  of  the  south,  he  would  have  poured  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters.  To  the  distressed  laboring  classes  of  the  north,  thrown  out  of 
employment  by  the  revolution  which  is  going  on,  he  would  have  proclaimed 
that  the  flag  of  our  common  country  should  wave  alike  for  the  protection 
of  the  properly  of  the  citizen  of  every  State.  Potent  as  his  voice  is  for 
good  he  has  not  said  a  word.  He  has  seen  the  mechanics  and  poor  white 
laborers  of  his  own  section  in  want ;  with  the  propprty  of  the  States  depre- 
ciated hundreds  of  millions,  and  the  national  treasury  on  the  brink  of  bank- 
ruptcy, yet  the  negro  was  dearer  to  him  than  the  redress  of  all  these  griev- 
ances. The  very  tenacity  with  which  he  and  his  parly  hold  to  their  doc- 
trines, prove  that  they  are  their  convictions. 

He  has  selected  for  the  first  place  in  his  cabinet  one  who  has  led  the  attack 
of  the  irrepressible  conflict  and  the  higher  law  doctrines  ;  who  has  spent 
the  best  part  of  his  life  in  waging  war  on  the  institutions  of  the  South.  For 
another  place  he  has  chusen  one  who  has  spent  his  life  in  advocating  the 
equality  of  the  negro  with  his  own  race,  and  in  urging  his  claims  to  an  asso- 
ciation with  the  white  man.  W.  H.  Seward  and  S.  P.  Chase  have  long 
been  known  as  two  of  the  reckless  spirits  that  were  rapidly  hurrying  the 
country  to  ruin. 

For  other  places  the  names  spoken  of  have  been  more  noted  for  bigotry  and 
fanaticism  than  wisdom  and  patriotism.  Whatever  hopes  may  have  been  in- 
dulged, that  he  will  become  the  President  of  nation  of  States,  is  dissipated  by 
the  dark  complexion  of  his  Cabinet. 

Some  few  chosen  leaders  have  used  occasionally  a  kind  word,  and  have  pro- 
claimed their  devotion  to  the  Union.  This  they  might  well  do ;  for  the  Union 
has  always  protected  their  rights  and  bestowed  on  them  its  choicest  blessings. 
Some  of  their  party  have  kept  a  grum,  sullen  silence,  while  others,  with  a 
fiery  spirit  of  defiance,  have  proclaimed  to  us  a  submission,  or  sttbjugation  with 
fire  and  sword  intermingled  with  the  horrors  of  servile  and  civil  war. 

The  party  organ  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  view  of  the  overwhelming 
crisis  that  was  overspreading  all  the  industrial,  commercial  and  financial  pur- 
suits announced  a  willingness  to  settle  up  with  a  new  compromise.  The  elec- 
toral college  of  the  Piepublicans  of  that  State,  meeting  soon  after  for  casting 
their  votes  for  President,  bade  the  editor  to  return  to  their  black  idols,  or  they 
would  ostracise  him  from  the  party. 

The  Governor  of  the  same  State,  who  recommended  compromise  in  broad 


14 

platitudes,  had  his  weakness  revealed  the  day  before  he  sent  his  message,  by 
having  his  favorite  partizans  beaten  in  his  own  State  for  the  office  of  speaker 
of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Legislature! 

The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  recommended  coercion)  compromise  and  the 
repeal  of  the  Personal  Liberty  Bill,  while  a  few  days  after  his  entire  party 
Voted  against  taking  the  unconstitutional  act  from  the  Statute  Book.  The 
Legislatuer  of  Vermont  voted  down  the  same  proposition,  two  to  one.  Since 
the  Presidential  election  the  Governor  elect  of  Massachusetts  joined  in  a  free 
negro  procession  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  to  celebrate  the  felonious  raid  on 
Virginia,  Yet  the  gains  in  the  local  elections  in  this  State,  that  gave  seventy 
thousand  majority  against  the  constitutional  candidates,  are  heralded  as  great 
reactions  in  popular  sentiment* 

We  may  coerce  their  people  for  the  time  being  by  breaking  up  their  busi- 
ness, and  bringing  ruin  on  their  manufacturers,  and  by  throwing  their  opera* 
tives  out  of  employment,  but  you  can  no  more  coerce  their  vicious  principle 
out  of  them  than  they  can  coerce  the  South  into  submission  to  their  oppression* 
When  you  take  the  outside  pressure  from  their  pockets  they  will  be  the  same 
old  purtians  with  their  higher  law  consciences.  In  the  expression  of  these 
views  I  allude  only  to  the  dominant  party  ;  for  I  know  they  have  many  true 
and  patriotic  men  in  all  the  Northern  States  ;  but  they  are  without  power,  and 
according  to  present  indications  will  continue  so. 

We  are  all  determined  to  leave  the  Union,  if  wre  fail  to  get  our  rights  in  it, 
With  this  determination,  would  it  not  be  prudent  to  prepare  for  either  alterna- 
tive ?  Should  we  not  prepare  to  withdraw  so  as  to  act  promptly  if  the  emer» 
gency  should  arise  ?  I  think  it  has  already  arisen ;  many  of  you  think  it  has 
hot,  but'that  it  may  arise  at  an  early  day*  Prudence  would  say  to  those  who 
think  the  time  has  come,  as  Well  as  to  those  who  think  it  may  come — call 
a  convention,  and  be  prepared  to  act  according  to  the  emergency  of  the  case. 
Suppose  Lincoln  and  his  party,  after  they  are  installed  in  office,  shall  bring  to  bear 
the  power  of  the  Federal  Government  on  us.  Shall  we  then  wait  to  go  through 
the  forms  of  convening  the  Legislature  to  call  a  convention  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  ?  Or  shall  we  be  precipitated  into  revolution  by  usurpation,  plead» 
ing  in  justification  the  stern  dictates  of  necessity. 

Four  of  the  slaveholding  States  are  already  out  of  the  Union,  and  in  a  few 
days  more  others  will  go.  Louisiana,  Tennessee,  Virginia  and  Texas  have 
already  called  conventions.  Kentucky  and  Missouri  will,  at  an  early  day, 
follow.  What  ought  North-Carolina  to  do  ?  She  has  the  same  grievances 
that  have  put  a  part  of  the  States  out  of  the  Union,  and  that  have  and  will 
cause  the  other  Slave  States  to  put  themselves  in  a  condition  to  go  if  the 
occasions  shall  require.  We  are  not  bound  to  go  if  we  do  pass  the  convention 
bill.  If  the  people  say  go,  we  will  go ;  if  they  say  otherwise,  we  will  stay. 
I  believe  on  the  4th  day  of  March  next,  unless  the  Black  Republicans  retrace 
their  steps,  there  will  not  be  three  Southern  States  in  the  old  Union  of  States* 

In  the  presidential  campaign  these  republicans  were  offered  squatter  sover- 
eignty, the  Union,  the  Constitution,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  and 
national  protection  to  the  persons  and  property  of  all  both  by  land  and  sea  ;  all 
these  they  repudiated :  they  chose  the  negro ;  they  prevailed  in  the  election  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  the  question  of  disunion  would  be  presented  in  the 
event  of  their  success.  What  then  shall  we  do  ?  I  Would  call  a  convention 
and  go  out  of  the  Union,  unless  We  had  unmistakable  evidences  that  our  rights 
would  be  acknowledged  and  respected  by  prompt  amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, backed  up  by  change  in  public  sentiments.  But  of  this  there  is  no  hope. 
Let  us  go  out  and  unite  with  our  friends  of  the  southern  States. 

Of  all  the  plans  suggested  the  least  agreeable  to  me  is  the  formation  of  a 
central  confederacy.     There  are  to  day  more  signs  of  reaction  in  the  New 


15 


England  States  which  are  to  he  left  out,  than  in  those  it  proposed  to  take  into 
the  new  copartnership.  The  same  cause  that  will  compel  us  to  go  out  of  the 
old  Union,  will  compel  us  to  leave  a  central  confederacy ;  the  free  border  States 
would  steal  negroes  and  preach  incendiarism  quite  as  strong  in  the  new  Union 
as  they  did  in  the  otd  one. 

We  ought  not  only  to  settle  the  rights  of  property,  but  we  ought  to  have 
these  doctrines  of  coercion  settled.  If  the  majority  of  States  are  to  have  the 
power  to  coerce  the  minority,  then  in  a  confederated  republic  the  latter  have  no 
protection.  A  tyranny  of  States  is  quite  as  bad  as  a  tyranny  of  individuals, 
The  theory  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  government  was  that  the  whole 
world  was  inimical  to  republics— that  a  common  sense  of  danger  would  keep 
them  together,  and  cause  them  to  endure  even  oppression  before  they  would 
withdraw  from  the  common  league  ;  and  that  this  power  on  the  part  of  the 
minority  to  withdraw,  would  cause  their  rights  to  be  respected.  This  question 
of  unlimited  power  of  the  majority  we  ought  to  have  settled ,  We  ought  to 
require  that  free  negroes  should  not  be  allowed  to  vote ;  if  they  are  with  the 
accessions  from  immigration  and  runaway  slaves  from  southern  States,  they 
will  soon  begin  to  control  both  State  and  federal  elections  in  some  of  the  States, 
Unless  this  is  done  the  free  negro  vote  will  be  constantly  wielding  the  balance 
of  power. 

It  has  been  urged  by  some  that  -we  should  be  in  a  more  defenceless  condi- 
tion out  of  the  Union  thar  in  it.  It  is  the  first  time  I  have  ever  heard  that 
we  are  strengthened  by  having  enemies  around  our  firesides.  In  the  Union 
we  have  only  the  remonstrance  of  a  powerless  minority  in  Congress ;  out, 
we  would  have  all  the  force  of  king  cotton  and  commercial  treaties.  No 
better  illustration  of  this  can  be  given  than  the  following ;  a  negro  killed 
his  master  in  an  effort  to  recapture  hitn,  and  made  his  escape  to  Ohio.  The 
Governor  of  Kentucky  demanded,  while  the  Governor  of  the  former  State 
refused  to  deliver  him  up  and  gave  him  protection.  Precisely  the  same 
case  happened  by  the  escape  of  a  slave  from  Missouri  into  Canada,  a  foreign 
country.  He  was  demanded  and  under  treaty  stipulations  delivered  up  to 
the  law.  Our  northern  friends,  under  a  different  government,  would  find  it 
much  more  to  their  advantage  to  trade  with  us  than  to  steal  negroes ;  gain 
would  soon  take  the  place  of  false  philanthropy.  Now  we  have  no  protec- 
tion, then  we  would  have  both  the  sword  and  commerce. 

We  are  sometimes  told  that  all  the  world  is  against  slavery.  This  may 
be  so  in  theory,  but  is  not  so  in  practice.  Many  of  the  most  powerful  gov- 
ernments depend  on  slave  labor  for  supplies  of  cotton,  sugar,  coffee  and  rice. 
Some  of  them  could  not  exist  a  single  yenr  without  them.  If  England 
could  afford  to  whip  China  because  they  would  not  buy  opium  from  them,  I 
should  think  she  wou'd  have  a  much  greater  interest  to  interfere  with  thone 
who  were  trying  to  cut  off  her  supply  of  cotton. 

Let  as  get  ready  to  withdrew,  saying  to  the  northern  States,  you  have 
done  us  wrong,  unless  you  give  immediate  evidence  of  your  purpose  to 
yield  our  rights,  we  ehall  leave  the  Union,  peaceably  if  we  can,  forcibly  if 
we  must. 

We  may  patch  up  another  compromise,  but  there  can  be  no  safety  to  us  as 
long  as  the  northern  States  deny  our  right  to  hold  the  negro  as  property. 
With  the  contest  in  those  States  between  capital  and  labor,  fanaticism  per- 
vad'ng  all  the  walks  of  life,  sickly  sentimentality,  taking  the  place  of  rea* 
son,  infidelity  rooting  out  religion,  the  pulpit  changed  into  the  political  ros- 
trum, with  an  atmosphere  that  tolerates  free  love  and  Fourierism,  and  pro- 
duces Momonism  and  bigamy,  all  presided  over  by  the  demoralising  doc- 
trines of  spiritualism^  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  some  of  them  will  «oon 


16 


degenerate  into  agrariani-rn,  and  become  less  desirable  members  of  the 
confederated  republic  than  they  have  heretofore  been. 

It  has  been  urged  that  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  is 
no  cause  for  dissolution  of  the  Union.  If  he  and  his  pa-vy  had  been  content 
on  their  elevation  to  power  to  administer  the  governm  .„  t  according  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  as  many  believed  they  would,  the  question  would 
have  worn  quite  a  different  aspect ;  but  instead  of  this,  they  have  indicated 
their  purpose  to  urge  their  fanatical  policy.  If  Great  Britain  had  declared 
war  against  us,  we  w<  uld  have  made  due  preparation  to  meet  her.  The  re- 
publican party  have  declared  a  war  on  our  institutions,  that  if  successful 
must  be  more  disastrous  in  its  conspquences  than  any  we  have  ever  been  en- 
gaged in,  and  yet  we  have  not  made  preperatlon  to  resist  them.  The 
duty  on  tea  was  the  crowning  act  of  the  series  that  brought  on  the  revolu- 
tionary war.  The  election  of  Lincoln,  with  his  party  avoAvals,  will  be  the 
last  of  the  aggressive  acts  that  will  dissolve  the  Union. 

We  cannot  evade  the  question,  we  have  to  remain  with  the  North  or  go  with 
our  friends  of  the  South.  If  the  entire  South  should  be  unable  to  protect  her- 
self from  aggression  in  the  present  government,  wha'  can  Virginia,  North- 
Carolina,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri  and  Arkansas  lo  in  the  Union,  shorn 
of  nearly  half  of  her  protecting  power  ?  Would  an  ovt  bearing  enemy  be  less 
merciful  to  a  weakened  opponent,  whose  ruin  was  m<  ditated  ?  There  is  no 
alternative,  Ave  shall  have  to  go  with  the  States  south  c  f  us,  we  have  kindred 
feeling,  pursuits  and  institutions  that  will  bind  us  together  We  shall  have  no 
supposed  irrepressible  conflict  between  the  labor  systems  of  different  States. 

There  is  certainly  great  danger  of  collision  between  the  two  sections.  However 
much  we  may  desire  to  avoid  it,  the  do  nothing  policy  will  not  shield  us  from 
an  attack.  The  true  policy  is,  in  peace  prepare  for  war.  Shall  we  learn 
nothing  from  the  history  of  the  past?  With  five  years  notice,  the  impending 
crisis  that  ended  in  the  war  of  1812,  found  the  coiurry  unprepared.  The 
destruction  of  property  and  commerce  that  resulted  from  it,  would  have  paid  a 
large  part  of  the  expenses  of  the  war.  Thirteen  years  strife,  with  increasing- 
bitterness  like  the  present,  found  our .  ancestors  total  y  unprepared  for  the 
great  struggle  of  the  Revolution.  Our  safety  lies  in  promp|  withdrawal  from 
the  Union  and  the  immediate  formation  of  a  Southern  Confederacy. 

The  great  danger  of  delay  is,  it  may  cause  the  abolitk  n  horde  to  believe  that 
it  was  caused  by  a  divison  of  sentiment  favorable  to  them.  If  the  worst 
should  come,  with  such  convictions  on  their  minds,  it  may  cost  us  an  attempted 
invasion  of  our  State  to  look  for  their  supposed  sympatl  sers,  and  our  invaders 
will  attempt  to  excite  servile  war  and  insurrection.  Ve  have  many  well- 
tried,  true  and  faithful  friends  in  each  of  the  States  froi  ■  which  we  propose  to 
separate;  these  patriotic  men  will  contribute  to  the  formation  of  good  neighborly 
feeling  between  the  two  Republics. 

AVe  are  the  inj ured  party ;  it  is  their  duty  to  offer  redress;  a  just  and  rea- 
sonable proposition  for  the  protection  of  our  rights,  wo  ild  at  all  times  have 
been  accepiable  to  me.  I  regret  much,  that  such  a  preposition  has  not  been 
offered.  Let  us  call  the  convention,  let  the  voice  of  the  State  be  heard  ;  when 
the  speaks  let  us  all  be  loyal  to  the  voice  of  a  common  mother,  That  voice  will 
say,  unite  with  our  sister  Southern  States. 


Printed  at  the  State  Journal  Office 


Phoiomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.  Inc. 

Makers 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAM  21,  1908 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032721653 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


•  •  , 


*  .: 


